Photo: METIN AKTAS/AA/PICTURE ALLIANCE / Deutsche Welle
The President of Ukraine, Volodimir Zelenski, criticized this Saturday (23.04.2022) the decision “without any logic” of the secretary general of the Organization of United Nations (UN), Antonio Guterres, of planning to go to Moscow next week before kyiv.
“It is simply wrong to go to Russia first and then to Ukraine,” Zelensky said at a press conference, referring to Guterres’ agenda, which plans to travel to Moscow on 26 April and on 28 from April to kyiv. “It’s a decision without any justice or logic,” he added.
“The war is in Ukraine, there are no bodies on the streets of Moscow. It would be logical to go to Ukraine first and see people, see the consequences of the occupation”, before visiting Russia, added the Ukrainian leader.
The UN announced that Guterres will visit 25 April Ankara, the capital of Turkey, where he will meet President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, before going to Moscow and kyiv. In Ukraine, Guterres is scheduled to meet with UN agency teams on the ground “to discuss increased humanitarian assistance to Ukrainians.”
Ever since the UN secretary general claimed that Russia was violating the UN Charter by sending troops to Ukraine, the Russian president has refused to have any contact with him. Guterres has also not had much contact with the Ukrainian leader. They only had a telephone conversation on 26 February, two days after the start of the Russian offensive.
On 23 April, Guterres denounced the new Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine and asked both parties end fighting to secure a four-day “humanitarian truce” around Orthodox Easter, which falls on 24 April .
ama (afp, al jazeera)